Candidates for R.I. governor discuss how they would reinvigorate state’s economy / Video

"Job One: Leadership," an election-year effort to help voters assess Rhode Island’s candidates for governor, launches the second of its three-part project on Sunday in The Providence Journal and on Monday on Rhode Island PBS.

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By
Karen Lee Ziner
Posted May. 17, 2014 @ 12:01 am

[video-jobs]

PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island’s stagnant economy and dismal unemployment rate continue to beleaguer the state. How can the next governor improve that?

In interviews with The Providence Journal, Rhode Island’s six gubernatorial candidates had differing approaches on how to make the Ocean State more attractive to businesses and bring in new jobs.

The interviews are part of “Job One: Leadership,” an election-year effort to help voters assess gubernatorial candidates through a partnership of The Journal, Rhode Island PBS and the Hassenfeld Institute for Leadership at Bryant University.

The Journal is posting the videotaped interviews on providencejournal.com, with a new question each Sunday through June 8. [The first segment appeared May 4.] Rhode Island PBS also airs the segments on Sundays at approximately 12:28 p.m. and Mondays at 10 p.m.

This Sunday’s question: “In recent years, Rhode Island’s unemployment rate has consistently been among the highest in the country. As governor, how would you lead people in groups with competing interests toward a plan to get people back to work and good jobs?”

Providence Mayor Angel Taveras, a Democrat, said people must understand that the existing strategy of seeking an outsider to save the state is the wrong approach.

“Rhode Islanders are going to save Rhode Island,” Taveras said. “As we look at some of the biggest companies we have in our state — a Hasbro, an Alex and Ani, a CVS — they’re all home-grown talent. We need to make sure we continue to support Rhode Islanders…. Ultimately, we are going to be the ones who lead us out of the economic challenges that we face.”

Republican Ken Block, a Barrington resident who owns a software engineering firm, said the root cause of Rhode Island’s problem is not being economically competitive with neighboring states, including Massachusetts. And, he said, “The way we govern ourselves is a disincentive to business.”

Rhode Island needs to tackle “both the tax piece and the reform piece to pull together a package that becomes appealing to business,” he said.

General Treasurer Gina M. Raimondo, a Democrat, called it unacceptable that Rhode Island “has the highest unemployment rate in the country.”

“We need a governor who is going to act with urgency to bring people together, to move this state forward. And we need to hit on all cylinders at once. I have put out a comprehensive jobs plan that calls for investments in infrastructure; that calls for work-force development engines; that calls for streamlining our regulatory framework; that calls for Rhode Island’s government to reach out to business to ask them how can we help you and support you.”

Democrat Todd J. Giroux, a Bristol contractor, said Rhode Island is in a prolonged recession, said he is proposing a “commerce revolving fund” to diversify from what he calls “our all-Wall Street investment portfolio.”

Giroux said the fund would include $200 million each for small businesses and property owners, and an infrastructure fund “for the roads and bridges here in our state.”

Democrat Clay Pell, a former White House national security staffer, and grandson of the late U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell, said the next governor needs to make the job crisis “his or her first priority.”

Pell’s job-creation proposals include investing in roads and infrastructure, and “in the skills people need to get jobs now.” He also called for “integrity in government, because right now, people have lost faith in state government, and it makes it very hard to grow as an economy when people believe it matters more who you know than what you know.”

Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, a Republican, said his city has a track record “of working with our employers” and that during his three terms as mayor, his administration has helped create more than a thousand new jobs. He said that needs to happen statewide as well.

Fung said his proposed $200-million tax-reduction plan will send a strong message to employers both in and outside of Rhode Island “that we’re serious and open for business.” The governor, as chief executive, must be able to “pick up the phone and deal with CEOs,” as part of improving the business climate, he said.